Improvement in metallic cans



G. PERKINS & G. BROWN.

., Metadlligz (3am,

ted April 22,1879.

Paten Fig.2

um mmmmnunmmmillllll 1 I UNITED STATES PATENT OE IoE.

GEORGE H. PERKINS AND GEORGE BROWN, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENN- SYLVANIA,ASSIGNORS TO THE HANNIBAL MEAT COMPANY, (LIMITED,) or SAME PLAoE ANDHANNIBAL, MISSOURI.

IMPROVEMENT IN METALLIC CANS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 214,698, dated April22, 1879 application filed September 28, 1878.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, GEORGE H. PERKLNs andGEORGE BROWN, both of the city and county of Philadelphia, in the Stateof Pennsylvania, have jointly invented a new and useful Improvement inMetallic Cans, of which we hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and precise description, and suflicient to enable those skilledin the art to which our invention appertains to make and use it,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form part ofthis specification, and of which- Figure 1 is an external view, inperspective, of a can embodying our invention; and Fig. 2, a centralsectional elevation of the same, illustrating the idea of the thinginvented and a convenient form of construction of the can.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts wherever used.

Our invention relates in general to that class of sheet-metal cans whichare employed for the hermetic-a1 inolosing of paints, preserves, meats,milk, powder, and the like, but has more especial reference to pyramidalcans, such as are used for the packing of cooked meats. 7

Our invention consists in the can hereinafter set forth and claimed.

In the process of canning cooked meats, to

1 which our invention is of especial applicability, when the can withthe meat sealed within it is subjected to the boiling process, itbecomes necessary that the can should be so constructed as to allow of acertain amount of expansion under the steam-pressure generated insideit.

The can also requires for its ordin ary after use of transportation andstorage that the heads should be strong-4n other words, that the canshould be capable of resisting exterior pressures, without danger to itsstructure while, again, it is a desideratum that there should besufficient give about the can to admit, as stated, of its expansionunder steampressure, and also that it should be possible to easily openthe can.

Heretofore, with these ends in view, cans have been constructed of theusual pyramidal form, and with corrugated panels in the sidedifficulties, however, in the way, either of cost or of inconvenientform for storage and transportation, exist in all the known forms of theabove cans.

We have discovered that by forming the entire side body of very thintin, such as taggers, and making both heads or ends of heavier tin thanthe side body, we produce a can which is sufliciently elastic to admitof the cooking process without danger to the-weak portion, sufficientlystrong to resist ordinary handling, and which can also be easily openedby cutting through the thin tin of the side body circumferentiallyaround and beneath the head of the can, the base of the pyramid.

Our structure, as above described, permits also of the free collapse ofthe can upon its contents during the last stages of the boiling process.

We are aware that vessels have been long made in which cast-ironbottomsor tops have been riveted or bolted to sheet-iron or otherplate-metal sides, and to such structure we lay no claim, as ourinvention is only of applicability to hermetically-tight cans madewholly of pliable metal, such as sheet-tin.

We have found it of advantage to re-enforce the seams of the side body,and this we do by a method for which we have applied for Letters Patent.

Having thus described our invention, we claim and desire to'secure byLetters Patent of the United States- A pyramidal meat-can the entireside body of which is made of taggers or other thin tin, and both theends of heavier tin than the side body, substantially as described, andfor the purposes set forth.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands this 24th day ofSeptember, A. D. 187 8.

GEORGE H. PERKINS. GEORGE BROWN.

In presence of-- W. O. STRAWBRIDGE, J. BONSALL TAYLOR.

